Gattuso: We Must Be Focus Against Roma

By Joshua Walters 

Gennaro Gattuso has reminded his side to keep their focus and pay particular attention to Eden Dzeko when AC Millan host As Roma at the San Siro on Friday night.

Gattuso’s men meet Eusebio Di Francesco side with the hope of getting their first win of the season, after losing 3-2 at Napoli on matchday-2, having had their opening day fixture against Chievo Verona postponed.

Speaking at the pre-match press conference on Thursday, the former AC Milan defensive midfielder charged his lads to be wary of the opponent’s counter-breaks and Bosnia and Herzegovina forward Eden Dzeko.

“We have to pay attention to Dzeko. They have quick players, they are good on the break, and they have tall players so we need to be very careful on the dead balls and pay close attention”.

AC Millan led 2-0 in the 49th minute against Napoli but saw the deficit reduced in the 53rd minute.  Napoli drew parity in the 67th minute before grabbing the equaliser ten minutes to time.

The Rossoneris go into the game not just haunted by the last result, but also of the fact they have won just one and lost three of the opponent's last four visits.

“In terms of mentality very little will change, we always have to go into the game with balance and not feel like it’s a scrap”

“Against Napoli, people saw the real Milan for 60th minutes. When we keep the ball, when we make our opponents think, it’s hard to play against us.”

Gattuso hoped his lads can play with the mentality needed for a league match, predicting that the atmosphere at the San Siro could make things difficult for the visitors.

 “When you play friendlies there is not the same adrenaline and the same mental stress. When you go to play in passionate stadiums, then you pay for that. It’s true. Even Juventus struggled against Chievo, then Fiorentina took six of them.”